Nation-Wide Mobile Network Energy Evolution Analysis

Mobile network operators are facing a challenging dilemma. While on the one hand they are committed to reducing their carbon emissions, and energy consumption, they are also required to continuously upgrade existing networks, ensuring that the relentless growth in data traffic can still be supported. In most cases, these upgrades increase the energy consumption of the network even further. This paper presents a nation-wide case study, based on a commercial network of a leading European operator, intended to provide a clear understanding of how the energy consumption of mobile networks is expected to evolve from 2012 until 2020. The study also considers an efficient network capacity evolution path, including base station equipment improvement forecasts.